Little-known facts about The Third Reich

Some lesser-known facts, odd alliances, and daring rescues during the Third Reich.

There is testimony. There are libraries, institutions, memorials, dedications, films, documentaries. Thousands of historians, economists, film-makers, researchers, sociologists, and psychologists have spent lifetimes attempting to make sense of the singular, targeted inhumanity of the Holocaust. And the search for answers will continue. It must continue to not only remember and honor its victims, but through trying to grapple with the incomprehensible -- how a civilized culture fell into in the abyss of evil – there are critical lessons for the future of all who value justice, truth, and the value of a single human life.

Over the course of the last 20 years my own research has turned up some lesser-known facts, odd alliances, and daring rescues during the Third Reich, some you may know, and some may be new. I present them to you now.

The Mischlinge: Hitler’s "Jewish" Soldiers

“Mischlinge” was the Nazi term for people who did not have full Aryan ancestry according to the Nuremberg Laws. According to Bryan Mark Rigg’s, Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military, as Hitler was moving toward the extermination of Jews, approximately 150,000 mishchlinge, many of them with Jewish blood, served even in the upper echelons of the Germany military via exemptions in Aryan law. Former chancellor Helmut Schmidt, for example, was in the Luftwaffe. Another, was field marshal Erhard Milch.

The question of their knowledge of Hitler’s mission and helplessness is a prominent theme. For example, the mischling soldier who visited Jewish relatives before they were deported to a camp, not knowing then that "deportation" meant death. By 1944, racial purity laws were tightened and many mischlinge died in the camps. Survivors were often rejected by the Jewish community.

General Patton’s Myth?

In late June, 1999, California’s Huntington Library revealed it had Hitler’s infamous Nuremburg Racial Laws. Yet where was the document for 54 years? In Bloodlines, author Tony Platt explodes the story of General Patton blazing into Nuremburg and finding the papers in a safe. Platt found it was Martin Dannenberg, a Jewish man, who actually unearthed the document.

At age 90, Dannenberg reported that his three-man counter-intelligence team found it in Eichstatt, not Nuremburg, then gave it to Patton’s intelligence chief with the understanding it would be sent to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force. Instead, it wound up in Patton’s trophy case, then into Huntington’s vault. Platt believes it was not Patton’s anti-Semitism but his desire for glory and loot that led him to grab the document. Subsequently, it was sent to the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, where the photo of Patton has been replaced in their exhibition with one of a young Dannenberg.

Berlin’s Jewish Hospital Survived

Berlin’s Jewish Hospital remained opened in Nazi Germany, as horror poured down on Europe’s Jews. Staffed by Jews treating Jews, it survived Kristallnacht, the “Final Solution” and remains to this day. This remarkable story is told by Daniel Silver in Refuge in Hell, even as many don’t believe it. Silver himself was dumbstruck when he heard of the hospital’s existence, also known to Adolph Eichmann who overrode orders to close it down. In interviewing survivors, he alleges that under Dr. Walter Lustig (a Prussian Jew), the staff made the "best" of a worsening situation. Once a top Berlin facility, it became a clearinghouse for Jews facing transport to the camps. The Nazis wanted the Jews “healthy” before murdering them. Also, as many patients and staff came from mixed backgrounds the Nazis hesitated to anger “Aryan” relatives. Lustig, part villain, part hero, was shot at war’s end by the Russians.

Odd Alliances: The Fuhrer’s Doctor

Dr. Eduard Bloch treated Adolph Hitler’s family during Hitler’s childhood and figured prominently in Adolph’s mother, Klara Hitler’s battle with breast cancer. According to an interview with Dr. Bloch in 1941, at a Nazi party conference in 1937, Hitler inquired as to news of Bloch, referring to him as an “Edlejude” -- a noble Jew. He reportedly stated aloud, “If all Jews were like him, there would be no Jewish question.” In 1938, after Hitler annexed Austria, he assisted in the immigration of Bloch to the U.S.

Trained as a member of the Hitler youth, German Karl Heinz Schneider joined the Nazi air force at age 18, intending to do his duty. Until he saw Nazi storm troopers killing a group of Jews, as a rabbi clutched a Torah tightly as while dying. The true horror of the Nazis revealed, he started to disobey orders and sabotage bombs. Deeply affected by the atrocities, after the war he worked for 20 years as a penance, giving two-thirds of his salary to groups that helped Jewish orphaned survivors. He also began attending synagogue services. After the 20 years, he sold everything and bought a farm in Israel.

Finally, he approached rabbinical authorities in Haifa and asked to be converted. Astonished by his claims, the rabbis investigated. When they verified his story, he was allowed to study and ultimately became Jewish and a citizen of Israel.

Himmler’s “Magician”

A most unusual story is that of Felix Kersten, a Finn of Baltic German origin, who became Heinrich Himmler’s medical “magician,” treating the Nazi’s abdominal problems – and manipulating him into saving thousands of Jewish lives. He not only talked Himmler into refraining from demanding the Finnish government turn Jews over to the Nazis, but arranged a meeting between Himmler and Swedish World Jewish Congress member Norbert Masur. This resulted in Himmler’s agreement to decline Hitler’s order to murder the 60,000 Jews remaining in camps, days before liberation. In 1953, Kersten was granted Swedish citizenship. The Dutch heaped honors upon him including a nomination for a Nobel Peace prize.

Lubavitcher rebbe Saved by German Officers

One of the most unusual rescues is that of Lubavitcher Rebbe, Joseph Isaac Schneersohn and his family who escaped from Warsaw to the U.S., thanks to German officers Ernest Bloch, a mischlinge, and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of Nazi intelligence. They were assigned the rescue task by Helmut Wohlthat (head of Goring's Four-Year Plan) upon urging of the American Lubavitcher community, and the intervention of the American consul general in Berlin. Despite close calls, the rebbe made it to New York. As for his rescuers, in 1944, Bloch, as all Mischlinges, was dismissed from duty, but stayed to defend Berlin, and was killed in April, 1945. Canaris continued his intelligence work, while helping Jews and opposing Hitler. After an assassination attempt on the Fuhrer, Canaris was convicted of treason and hanged by the SS in April, 1945.

The SS Man and The Jew

1944, St. Julien, France: A surviving victim of Himmler’s SS murderous rampage was Kurt Keiser-Blueth. He was hiding in a haystack. Walter Berndt, the SS man who woke him with his bayonet, was shocked to discover the identity of the hiding Jew.

In Walter's youth, he was Kurt’s best friend, protector and defender of democracy.

“What happened to your love of freedom?” asked Kurt.

“I had to choose between freedom and security. I chose security, for myself and for my nation.”

The voices of more SS men grew close.

Kurt turned pale. “Deliver me to the other murderers. This is your duty.”

“Yes ... my duty,” Walter repeated slowly.

He offered his hand to Kurt who refused to take it. Walter went outside and told his comrades, “There’s no one here. ... Let’s go.”

A country isn’t a rock, and it isn’t an extension of one’s self. It’s what it stands for, when standing for something is the most difficult. Before the people of the world, let it now be noted in our decision here that this is what we stand for: Justice, Truth. and the value of a single human being. Excerpted from Judgment at Nuremberg

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About the Author

Quirky, no-nonsense, funny, Marnie – writer, editor, author, lecturer, clinician, and administrator -- is a straight-shooter, who has a distinctive voice and takes on the world in her columns, features, and books. Her advice column was syndicated through Tribune Media Services, and it currently appears in Singular magazine as Singular Solutions. Marnie has written over 20 books/calendars, including the series “A Little Joy, A Little Oy." Her books include Yiddishe Mamas: The Truth About the Jewish Mother and A Little Joy, A Little Oy (pub. AndrewsMcMeel). She is also an award-winning “calendar queen” having written over 20. She has been nominated for both an Emmy and Writers Guild award.Thefullwiki.org has listed Marnie Macauley on their list of top Jewish_American writers, dead or living. (She’s still deciding which.) She was also chosen as a Distinguished Woman in Las Vegas in March of 2014.

Visitor Comments: 15

(12)
Stefan,
October 31, 2013 9:39 PM

Jewish school operated in Berlin until 1943

British ORT plucked more than 100 students from the ORT school in Berlin a few days before war broke out. The rest continued with their studies as best they could until the school was closed down and they were deported in 1943. You can read the whole story here: http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/the-last-jewish-school-in-berlin-1.423958In addition you may find this gallery of photos taken at the school in 1938 of interest: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.431339813547365.121136.142565139091502&type=3

(11)
Laurence Cohn,
June 23, 2013 6:47 PM

Appreciated!

The article is worth reading!

(10)
Anonymous,
August 16, 2011 3:46 PM

Holocaust writings.

Amazingly interesting reading. Thank you for giving us these articles. It helps to understand more about how Jewish people endured such sufferings.

(9)
Ms. Whitfield,
May 4, 2011 5:33 PM

Could This Happen Again?

In case no one has noticed, antiSemitiism is still here and flourishing. Not just with the Jewish people but people of all races and creeds. We hoped that people would have learned something from WWll. The only lesson learned is that the Holocaust worked. It's already happening on our doorstep, Africa, Eastern Europe, etc. The lesson's that we surmised were learned need to be re-learned again, and again.........

Tina,
December 4, 2011 5:19 PM

anti-semitism

I see the comments made...anti-semitism is of course still very abundant..but anti-semitism refers ONLY to predjudice of Jewish people...You cannot use the term "anti-semitism" to refer to all bigotry...any racial, cultural. religious, racial intolerance is totally unacceptible!

(8)
Henry Wiltschek,
May 2, 2011 4:00 PM

History has made strange bed fellows.

The historically revelations come to light so many years after
their events. I have witnessed a similar case where an almost deadly shooting has resulted by a (Russian) soldier to drop his weapon and walk away.

(7)
dov,
May 2, 2011 3:29 PM

one more story

I am from Holland, we were on the run in the train a German soldier was entering inspection of travel documents.
Me .mother,stepfather never would siit together as the idea was that if one would be picked up so to say the other 2 would remain, or for that matter I would remain.
All the money diamonds gold were sown in my Jacket I found out after the war.
Anyway we traveled with home concocted false papers .very obvious to detect.
In fact HE TOOK THE id CARDS TO THE WINDOW TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK.
tHAN HE GAVE THEM BACK AND SAID ICH WUNCHE IHNEN EINE GUTE REISE.
I nother words he knew.
All he had to do is pull the leather cord above him called an emergency brake,and we would have been unloaded of that train
Yes there were a few good ones
Dov

(6)
howard yagerman,
May 2, 2011 12:41 PM

Jews who were Nazis

In Hannah Arendt's book,Eichmann in Jreusalem, she claims that Hans Frank was Jewish andReinhard Heydrich was half Jewish.Is this possible?

Malka Blumenfeld,
May 5, 2011 8:26 PM

The fact of the matter is. That in the ancestry of a lot of Nazis, like Frank, Heydrich, etc. there were a lot of Jewish Relatives, even Goering had relatives. This was the hypocrisy of theirs. But is also shows what Intermarriage can do, which was rampant in Germany.

(5)
Stewart Perry,
May 1, 2011 7:17 PM

Once again Marnie Winston-Macaully is a source of very intersting facts.

Thank you, Marnie, once again! You give so much to us that we would not otherwise know. Sometimes it is with humor. Today's disclosure is with deep sadness.
The one thing that remains constant is your fanastic ability to write and convey.
Stewart Perry

(4)
Anonymous,
May 1, 2011 4:03 PM

On and off duty

My dear mother survived the camps. When the Russian Army got close to the camps located in Poland, the Germans forced the inmates to march deeper into the Reich. The front- and rear-end of the marching columns were guarded by several older soldiers, waiting almost as eagerly for the end of the war as the inmates. They were even making jokes about Hitler among themselves. Escaping from the marching columns was not difficult. The problem was what to do afterwards. When such an inmate would knock at the door of a farm, he/she would be offered a cup of tea and a slice of bread while they send a child to police to report the incident. Once, my mother knocked at a door of a house at the periphery of a village. Not hearing an answer, she pushed the door open. An SS officer, fully dressed and armed, was hugging his wife and children probably before going to his "work place". My mother closed the door as fast as she could and tried in her weakened condition to run. The big surprise was that a little girl from that house caught up with her and handed her a loaf of bread in the shape of a brick, which also had the texture of brick, and tasted like a brick. That's what they were also eating. It was towards the end of the war. The "fun" was over. For years, I tried to make sense of the story. An SS man and his family having rachmanut on a fugitive Jewish woman? Is that possible? A few years ago, someone explained it to me. The SS man, when at work, heartily looks for ways and means to kills Jews more efficiently, and he zealously does it with his own hands. In his off-duty time, he is a jovial and gemutlich fellow who doesn’t mind throwing a bone to a dog, or even to a fugitive Jewish woman.

Kip Gonzales,
May 3, 2011 9:15 AM

The coming end of the war changed some conduct

Many of the SS were brutal and ruthless, especially before 1943, when it still looked obvious that the Germans would win the war, and they would never have to give account of their crimes. Sometimes the ultimate "Kick" was to also show mercy to an individual, since they had full power of death and life over their slaves. As the end of the war neared, the clear thinking ones knew that the war was lost, and they made pitiful attempts to be kind to some prisoners, so that afterwards they might testify that this SS man "wasn´t so bad after all". This ploy rarely worked, and many were judged. Many also escaped justice.

(3)
Anonymous,
May 1, 2011 2:46 PM

Schindler.

"Bloch, as all Mischlinges, was dismissed from duty, but stayed to defend Berlin, and was killed in April, 1945. Canaris continued his intelligence work, while helping Jews and opposing Hitler"
Probably all sorts of stories about such persons such as Bloch and Canaris. Canaris was German Navy [Christian navy] . The famous Oskar Schindler having worked for Canaris pre-war as an intelligence case officer in the Sudentenland. The entire episode of Oskar has to be seen in a different light when the association with Canaris is known?

(2)
AlbertE.,
May 1, 2011 2:42 PM

Admirals

" have a reactionary Army, a National Socialist air force, and a Christian navy" - - A. Hitler.
Captain Rogge of the German surface raider Atlantis was one quarter Jew and noted for his fair and humane treatment of the captured. Admiral Lutjens of the Bismarck was also one quarter Jew and whose behavior was NOT as portrayed in the movie "Sink the Bismarck."

(1)
Paul Mesirow,
May 1, 2011 2:33 PM

Reasons why this is IMPORTANT

There are dozens of stories of gentiles, and even "Nazis" who helped our people when it was difficult and dangerous to do so, in the midst of the Shoah. These stories need to surface whenever found, and interviews and narratives need to be illuminated as the source for these is quickly fading, not because of murders, justice, or any other reason, but simply because of time. That generation, good or evil, is dying at the rate of 10,000 a day. For those who helped, and for the 6 million, Zichronam Livrocha. For those who perpetrated the greatest evil known in our history, there will be justice before G-d.

I just got married and have an important question: Can we eat rice on Passover? My wife grew up eating it, and I did not. Is this just a matter of family tradition?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

The Torah instructs a Jew not to eat (or even possess) chametz all seven days of Passover (Exodus 13:3). "Chametz" is defined as any of the five grains (wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye) that came into contact with water for more than 18 minutes. Chametz is a serious Torah prohibition, and for that reason we take extra protective measures on Passover to prevent any mistakes.

Hence the category of food called "kitniyot" (sometimes referred to generically as "legumes"). This includes rice, corn, soy beans, string beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, mustard, sesame seeds and poppy seeds. Even though kitniyot cannot technically become chametz, Ashkenazi Jews do not eat them on Passover. Why?

Products of kitniyot often appear like chametz products. For example, it can be hard to distinguish between rice flour (kitniyot) and wheat flour (chametz). Also, chametz grains may become inadvertently mixed together with kitniyot. Therefore, to prevent confusion, all kitniyot were prohibited.

In Jewish law, there is one important distinction between chametz and kitniyot. During Passover, it is forbidden to even have chametz in one's possession (hence the custom of "selling chametz"). Whereas it is permitted to own kitniyot during Passover and even to use it - not for eating - but for things like baby powder which contains cornstarch. Similarly, someone who is sick is allowed to take medicine containing kitniyot.

What about derivatives of kitniyot - e.g. corn oil, peanut oil, etc? This is a difference of opinion. Many will use kitniyot-based oils on Passover, while others are strict and only use olive or walnut oil.

Finally, there is one product called "quinoa" (pronounced "ken-wah" or "kin-o-ah") that is permitted on Passover even for Ashkenazim. Although it resembles a grain, it is technically a grass, and was never included in the prohibition against kitniyot. It is prepared like rice and has a very high protein content. (It's excellent in "cholent" stew!) In the United States and elsewhere, mainstream kosher supervision agencies certify it "Kosher for Passover" -- look for the label.

Interestingly, the Sefardi Jewish community does not have a prohibition against kitniyot. This creates the strange situation, for example, where one family could be eating rice on Passover - when their neighbors will not. So am I going to guess here that you are Ashkenazi and your wife is Sefardi. Am I right?

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (1194-1270), known as Nachmanides, and by the acronym of his name, Ramban. Born in Spain, he was a physician by trade, but was best-known for authoring brilliant commentaries on the Bible, Talmud, and philosophy. In 1263, King James of Spain authorized a disputation (religious debate) between Nachmanides and a Jewish convert to Christianity, Pablo Christiani. Nachmanides reluctantly agreed to take part, only after being assured by the king that he would have full freedom of expression. Nachmanides won the debate, which earned the king's respect and a prize of 300 gold coins. But this incensed the Church: Nachmanides was charged with blasphemy and he was forced to flee Spain. So at age 72, Nachmanides moved to Jerusalem. He was struck by the desolation in the Holy City -- there were so few Jews that he could not even find a minyan to pray. Nachmanides immediately set about rebuilding the Jewish community. The Ramban Synagogue stands today in Jerusalem's Old City, a living testimony to his efforts.

It's easy to be intimidated by mean people. See through their mask. Underneath is an insecure and unhappy person. They are alienated from others because they are alienated from themselves.

Have compassion for them. Not pity, not condemning, not fear, but compassion. Feel for their suffering. Identify with their core humanity. You might be able to influence them for the good. You might not. Either way your compassion frees you from their destructiveness. And if you would like to help them change, compassion gives you a chance to succeed.

It is the nature of a person to be influenced by his fellows and comrades (Rambam, Hil. De'os 6:1).

We can never escape the influence of our environment. Our life-style impacts upon us and, as if by osmosis, penetrates our skin and becomes part of us.

Our environment today is thoroughly computerized. Computer intelligence is no longer a science-fiction fantasy, but an everyday occurrence. Some computers can even carry out complete interviews. The computer asks questions, receives answers, interprets these answers, and uses its newly acquired information to ask new questions.

Still, while computers may be able to think, they cannot feel. The uniqueness of human beings is therefore no longer in their intellect, but in their emotions.

We must be extremely careful not to allow ourselves to become human computers that are devoid of feelings. Our culture is in danger of losing this essential aspect of humanity, remaining only with intellect. Because we communicate so much with unfeeling computers, we are in danger of becoming disconnected from our own feelings and oblivious to the feelings of others.

As we check in at our jobs, and the computer on our desk greets us with, "Good morning, Mr. Smith. Today is Wednesday, and here is the agenda for today," let us remember that this machine may indeed be brilliant, but it cannot laugh or cry. It cannot be happy if we succeed, or sad if we fail.

Today I shall...

try to remain a human being in every way - by keeping in touch with my own feelings and being sensitive to the feelings of others.

With stories and insights,
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